November 2011 Cycle Graduates

[KatieG]

Ann - good luck figuring out the crib situation and starting your baby item buying. I have looked at so much stuff, mostly online, and can't decide what I want. The only purchase we have made is the crib and furniture. I do love looking at baby clothes too, and have bought some, though I have wanted to get more. I am kinda confused about how much I will need especially of the newborn size. They are pretty small, so I figure she will grow out of them quickly, but I have also heard that you need a lot because of pee/poop/puke issues and lots of changes each day. Guess I should just get a bunch of cheap onsies. Since she will be born in the middle of baseball season and beginning.g of college football, I have been looking at some really cute Rays and Gator baby clothes. They are SO cute.

Lauree - glad the RLP pain is gone. I never had it bad, just a little bit here and there. Don't worry, you will feel more movement soon. I think I was a little late, it was still pretty sporadic unitl about 21 weeks. At my anatomy scan she was moving all over the place and the tech was amazed that I couldn't feel it. Now it is there, but still mostly subtle pokes and rolls. I do get the occasional big jab and times where she is quite active for several minutes. Yay for just one more week! I am still hoping for a girl for you, too many boys over here.

Impatient - like everyone else, you make me hungry. I had pizza last night, but it wasn't very good. We normally order from a nicer place, not real expensive, bit close to $20 to feed the two of us. Last night DH was working on house with a friend and my step dad, they wanted pizza, so we just ordered from pizza hut to save money. Not too impressed. It wasn't bad, just not very good. Guess you get what you pay for. Don't feel weird about the raisin bran. My after work snack lately has been a bowl of granola with raisins. Trying to get more calcium, and I can't stand to just drink milk. Love cheese, but not so much the lower fat, healhtier stuff. Was doing cottage cheese, but sodium is pretty high, so switched to Greek yogurt during day and the cereal/milk after work. I think it makes a yummu snack.

AFM - finally going to start my registry tonight. Will go into babies r us to set up, but probably won't put too much on yet, since DH isn't going with. I am taking my sister, her son is 9 months, so she will be a help but will probably work on it online from home this weekend. I was started to get anxious that i hadnt done it yet, only 15 weeks left, so i guess its time.

[tochristy78]

Melissa - I absolutely hear ya on not being able to see the lady bits anymore. I don't have the balls to wax and don't trust myself with a blade so I'm still trying to figure that one out. Might have to just use an electric and keep it trimmed? I can't stand to let it go and DH seems to get hornier the bigger I get which I guess keeps me feeling desirable the bigger I get.

Pain - My laser doesn't hurt NEARLY that much! A slap with a rubberband would hurt all over. There are some spots (like 5 out of 100) that get tender when I get lasered but she uses a cold washcloth after lasering the spots that I flinch at and it goes right away. If it hurts they should decrease the setting a bit so it is more tolerable.

Ann - Laser "shouldn't" hurt at all. I can feel the zaps but it is not painful. Even in the creases WAY down there (at your "taint" - aint your lady and aint your butt - that zone) it is more sensitive but not painful. I can't imagine wax going anywhere near there. My lady says actually the darker the hair the bigger the follicle and easier it is for the laser to zap - much of mine is finer lighter hair and has taken a couple more treatments than my darker friends. But you can honestly get your entire lady lasered in less than 10 min tops, including prep. It is SO quick.

On a side note - had follow up with Cardiology from having an echo (on me, not the baby) and he said not only did I officially NOT have a heartattack but my heart looked PERFECT! Unexplainable tachacardia but he said that is "normal" in some and I would be one of those. Said he also would not risk treating heartrate unless I start developing symptoms that are too bothersome for me (ie: difficulty breathing while sleeping, TOO short of breath, pulse stays at 130 resting, etc). Good report and next OB on Monday - so Melissa - I get to try and pee without any visuals!

[Miska86]

Christy - There are some really nice waxes that don't irritate the skin at all like that. I've been to some very good salons who wax horribly. I found one though, if anyone has one near and it is Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salons and they use this wonderful hard wax that doesn't leave very much irritation at all and NEVER rips the skin. Well they used to anyway...haven't had it in several years but by far that was the best wax ever! The ones where they put on wax and then strips of muslin and tear them off are terrible. I guess you don't need wax anyway either but just so we all know there is a less painful option. Wonder why my laser was painful and yours wasn't? I guess we all have our own def. of pain and I'm probably just a baby. Good luck Monday!

All of this fun wax talk!

Here's a wiki on laser hair removal. It does seem that it works differently for everyone depending on type of hair. For some reason I thought light hair was better but I see I was way off.

Laser hair removal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SC-Impatient_in_VA]

golauree AMG I wanna go to a posh place for my ultrasounds. That last girl didn't even buy me dinner first before she violated me with that stupid wand. Also, there was no pillow. Clearly I have gotten too accustomed to the treatment at my RE because I reached back to find the pillow and there was none and I was sad.

To leave you starving is good for the baby. Makes you go find potatoes and green beans I hope :p Actually my OB said to avoid potatoes but he can go suck an egg. Taters are full of fiber and vitamin C.

Miska Thank you for the additional info on the lasering! I think I'll still look into it. After all, who doesn't want 50 billion tiny rubber bands smacking against their Lady B if it means no hair after, amirite?

After reading that article I might be stuck with most of the leg hair, but hey, the pits and the Lady B can be made hassle-free. And oh my sweet Lord if the can get rid of the 5 beard-hairs I have and OMG can they do my nipples? I'm so excited. Zap that crap OFF, please. Can't wait to squirt this baby out so I can start this awesomeness.

Or can I do it while pregnant? I'll ask my OB if no one knows for sure.

Ann Normally I luuurrrve fennel and cumin, it's just this silly baby interrupting my eating patterns I will have to get some ajwain. I buy my spices online from Penzey's Penzeys Spices. Over 250 Spices, Herbs and Seasonings. and they definitely have that there. We also have a lot of Indian groceries and a Trader Joe's too. We're all kinds of multicultural in Richmond, VA. You wouldn't imagine so, but it's due to the naval bases and Air Force bases and whatnot apparently. ALL the delicious foods here. I'd never tried Dreamfields so I didn't know that about it!

Here is a highly rated recipe for spaghetti squash from my favorite recipe site, because you can read what other people did to improve a recipe (or to screw it up, so you don't do that yourself). Spaghetti Squash I Recipe - Allrecipes.com

And here is one for zucchini noodles. You can master these techniques and then flavor them however you like. Zucchini 'Noodles' Recipe - Allrecipes.com

Please keep in mind that I despise squash of all varieties and have not tried these recipes so I can't vouch for their tastiness. People who go in for this sort of thing have rated these recipes an average of 5 stars though, which is not too shabby.

Hopefully as my pregnancy progresses I will be more inclined to hit you up for Indian recipes as I've liked all the things I've made at home. I had homemade Indian food that my roommate's mother made once and it was unspeakably awful to me and so for like a decade I thought I hated it, then I started reading the recipes and it's chicken or potatoes or beans in a sauce -- what's not to love??

Other than fenugreek, of course.

tochristy LMAO yes I get puffy and bleed whenever I have waxing done. Anywhere on my body. I'm a natural blonde and I have sensitive skin, and I am always hit up on the aspirin so that makes me even more likely to leak from the pores when stuff is ripped out. Seriously though, eyebrows is worse than Lady Biz. I'm so sold on this laser thing and so is DH. He hates how all winter long I am uninspired to shave anything but the pits because -- honestly -- no one's gonna see but him and with the IF of the past few years, he mostly just got ovulation sex anyway. So it's not like I had to dress the area up, just the idea that he was gonna get in the door got business in line, kwim? But I guess now I'm pregnant I can start trying to be sexy again

I always do shave up in the summer and he would get so annoyed. He'd be like, Y U SHAVE FOR STRANGERS BUT NOT FOR ME? I'd laugh. I am a terrible, terrible wife

Also, I confess, I have never waxed my taint and would probably slap anyone who attempted. That is not a prime locale for hot wax.

KatieG Pizza Hut (DH calls it Pizza Slut) is so gross I no longer like any of the delivery places, haven't for years. We did recently find a NY style place with a proper brick oven though that sells by the slice. I wish they sold it with plain sausage and not just Italian sausage (weird I know but so good) but I'll take what I can get.

Another good way to get some milk in you is a mug of hot cocoa, either homemade or Costco sells a REALLY great line of Starbucks instant cocoa packets. I use this nice hot drink to keep the mail movin'. Because if that doesn't work, I have to microwave a big glass of Benefiber, and let me tell you, orange Benefiber is not improved by being hot. It's way better cold.

AFM Cake is baking, I'm procrastinating til it's done. This is a very old-fashioned recipe, using sifted cake flour and all yolks instead of oil or shortening for richness. It does use butter of course. It also puffs up like a blowfish, I hope it doesn't boil over out of my Bundt cake pan, I'll be so mad.

I have this stupid old chipped up metal Bundt cake pan that I scavenged from some crap my sister was getting rid of when I moved out of my parents' house and into DH's apartment years ago. It has served me well. Last year someone got me a new Bundt cake pan, a nice Nordic ware (it's no Le Creuset but as cooking gear goes, Nordic ware is not shabby). **** cakes stick like no one's business, the thing is all but useless to me unless I grease and flour it (even though it's nonstick), whereas my crappy elderly one works with Bakery's Joy spray. I've had that a couple of times, where upgrading to a nicer version of something turned out to kind of suck.

However today I'm pleased to get to use my Crate & Barrel lemon juicer which looks like an actual lemon. When you have no real hobbies, it's the little things in life which you look forward to, lol.

Hope you guys are having fun

[MariahBeth]

Just got membership to Costco last weekend. Starbucks instant cocoa...YES PLEASE! I may go there tonight to make my first purchase Maybe toss in a box of diapers just for good measure. Figure we should start stocking up. Anyone ever use the Costco brand diapers. Have a friend that really likes them, but have heard others be very loyal to Pampers or another name brand. Wanted to do cloth, but with twins, I am going to choose a different battle...breast feeding! Figure things will have to give, better get used to it, LOL.

[Miska86]

Impatient - Not sure if they can do the nipples. Not sure I'd want them to. I have about 3 hairs per that I just pluck. There are some pains I'm willing to endure, nipple zapping isn't one of them. No idea during pregnancy either. useless helper at this point.

Katie - Good luck with the registry. Have fun!

Mariah - I have heard most say that costo brand are fine and in fact the advice I got was to use the store brand because it is the same thing. I don't think I would buy too many in advance just in case you end up disliking the kind you stock up on...I have heard of some people really hating certain brands of diapers. I'm still gonna try the cloth...we'll see how it goes. Part of me is evil knowing that I won't have to deal with it as much as the nanny will. Plus they market the things as easy now so we'll just have to see. I'll at least give it a try and if it doesn't work out then disposables it is.

[SC-Impatient_in_VA]

Mariah It's so worth it, the cocoa! I'm doing breastfeeding and disposable diapers. I'm not going to lie, I find every home with cloth diapers I've ever been in to smell strongly of yuck. There seems not to exist a diaper genie who can really grant the wish of "no stinkin' up mah house" and I'm allergic to gross. Like, I will move the eff out. :p

Miska Dude, they can zap mine. Mine aren't sensitive like other people's (I don't think, having never been other people I can't be 100% certain on this). I can suffer all kinds of physical misery as long as I know why it's going on. Zap my nips? SURE. Mysterious ailment in my stomach? OMG IT'S PROBABLY CROHN'S OR CANCER OR ONE OF THOSE ALIEN THINGS FROM ALIEN.

As for newborn stuffs It's hard to say. My best friend didn't get a lot of newborn clothes or newborn diapers this time because with her first kid she didn't use many before the kid outgrew. This time, she used ALL the clothes in one day (kid spat up) and in a 24 hour period used 25 diapers (not sure how that worked out, wondering if she's going to find a secret stash of them in her 2 year old's room or something). I would say if you have a Babies R Us nearby or Amazon Prime, you can go with less stuff, but if you live in the country you might not have the luxury of sending DH to the store to buy new clothes or a package of diapers at midnight.

[Miska86]

Impatient - I have to know of these smelly houses. You must tell me more. Were these diaper service houses? I can see that because they only pick up once a week and advise that you dont even have to rinse them (which is why i won't use one) or are these houses where the diapers are promptly rinsed and soaked in detergent water until they are washed that very same evening? If it is the prompt washing houses (which is what I plan to be) then I just have no room for a stinking house. I can deal with the inconvenience but I cannot deal with a stinky dirty house.

There isn't a sanitary diaper genie I don't think. YUCK! I've heard of maggots growing in them. So effin disgusting. Still again I wonder if that is in houses like my sister's, where everything can wait to be tended to, or houses like mine where DH is constantly emptying the trash...full bag or not, every night it is OUT!

[Miska86]

just gross! i had anticipated less stink with cloth.

[SC-Impatient_in_VA]

Miska They were all same-day washing houses. No diaper services that I know of, just moms doing their own diapers. And some of them were working moms whose kids were in daycare; they very possibly didn't do the diapers daily. I know that sounds horrific, but sometimes you are just too. ****. tired. to clean anything when you get home, even diapers. We are of the every night it goes out kinda folks here. Though we are known to wander around emptying other trash cans into the big one just to be economical. (5/8 rooms in our home have trashcans in them.)

There are things I can wait to tend to (the windows, blah) and things that can't. Anything that changes texture or odor if left too long has to get dealt with immediately.

My best friend has these green bags that diapers go in. Then they go in another trashcan (maybe a diaper genie) lined with another bag. A bag within a bag, if you will. That works very well for her. I'll eventually get around to asking her what kind of bags those green ones are and I'll pass that info along but I'm pretty sure it only works with disposables (because who wants to fish dirty diapers out of tiny green plastic bags where they've been sweltering waiting for the wash?)

In more pleasant news my scalloped potatoes were hella good. I omitted the onion and added parsley and thyme instead for seasoning.